Hunt for oil beneath St. Clair continues

Sometime in the next several weeks, a seismic vehicle sent by Schmude Oil will run down the length of Carney Drive in St. Clair. The machine will use vibrations sent into the ground to search for an untapped reservoir.(Photo: Brian M. Wells/Times Herald)Buy Photo

The Traverse City oil prospector looking for crude beneath the city of St. Clair is sending survey crews out a third time.

Nearly a year after the first survey, property owners still have questions.

Dennis Schmude, of Schmude Oil, said he has questions, too.

That is why, in the next several weeks, a seismic vehicle will run down the length of Carney Drive and primarily private property parallel to 10th Street to send more vibrations into the ground to retrieve data on what lies beneath.

Each line should take about a day to complete, according to Ron Carr, an engineer with Bay Geophysical working with Schmude, though he wasn’t sure which date it will occur. Crews already ran four lines in late 2016 and two others in February this year.

Schmude said it’s “a good sign” that they have returned to take another look — and to spend more money in the effort — but that they aren’t finished mapping things out.

“If you could picture this, 2,200 feet down in the ground … there could be something that stands up between three and four hundred feet tall,” he said. “And it could be a quarter mile long and a quarter mile wide, or it could be bigger, or it might not even be there. That’s what you’re looking at.

“The thing is you want it to be a nice little shape, but (it’s not). … It could be like an amoeba going in all different kinds of directions.”

St. Clair City Council approved Schmude running two more lines Monday.

The previous six touched areas along Sixth, Ninth, Cass, North Delano and Ash streets, Clinton and South Riverside avenues, part of Fred Moore Highway and across the Pine Shores Golf Course.

Crews, at the city’s request, also surveyed the sinking area of St. Clair Highway. Those results haven’t been shared with all local officials yet.

Once mapping the resources beneath the city is completed, Schmude said he’d have to begin looking at leasing property and working out mineral rights to draw out any discovered oil or natural gas. He said he hopes to begin approaching property owners this fall.

He said when this latest survey phase is done, he will have spent “close to $100,000.”

On Tuesday, residents who live near Carney Drive were largely mixed on the idea — some indifferent to the possibility, and some encouraged if they stood to benefit.

But most said they needed to know more.

Geri Schmidt said “it’d probably be a bonus” if her home were approached, as long as there was nothing harmful about the process and resulting drilling.

“I haven’t studied it. But I am more of a naturalist,” she said. “If it’s going to do something that’s going to (result in) damage, I wouldn’t be for that. I wouldn’t care about the money. I care more about keeping things (safe) and natural.”

Monique Lictawa lives farther south on Carney and said she is concerned about the drilling process — from what she’s read — and if it would contribute to ground instability that leads to things like sink holes.

“I think it’s good to pull resources, to get oil if we could do it here if it lowered prices and stuff like that,” she said. “But I haven’t done enough research to know how I feel about it.

“… I would do a lot more research before I say yes or no, to see if it’d benefit us, if it’d harm us more. That’s what I would do. I don’t think I would give a yes or no even if the money was great. I’d want to make sure it was safe for everyone.”

Schmude has previously mentioned any drilling would be from another location, likely out of town. The state mandates well sites be at least 40 acres.

Carr said they also won’t know if they need to run lines yet again until the current phase of surveying is complete.

“What Dennis is trying to image in the subsurface isn’t bound by the same boundaries we were bound by trying to drive around town,” he said. “The subsurface, the difficulty is we have to work around everything that’s on the surface — railroad tracks, municipal buildings, private buildings, things that are built right over top what we’re trying to image.”

Once they’re finished, however, Schmude said he knows which property owner they’ll approach first.

“I think the city has like under 120 acres and so once I know exactly where everything is, I can approach for an oil and gas lease,” he said. “They may be one of the first we contact. Of course, the city has acreage all over. That’s good and bad.”

During Monday’s meeting, Mayor Bill Cedar said he had hoped to see the results of what Schmude saw beneath St. Clair Highway, as the city looks for answers to stop the sinking road, but added he was sympathetic to keeping the survey results close to the vest to avoid competitors cashing in on what Schmude discovers.

But on Tuesday, the mayor said the city will rely on the city’s attorney to keep them informed of any legal issues and what information can be shared with the public as it arises.

“We want to keep our minds open,” Cedar said. “And if he comes forward with whatever he thinks is potential oil or gas, we’ll be open to that.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.